News Nosh

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News Nosh 2.24.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday February 24, 2017
 
You Must Be Kidding: 
"We are not masochists and there is no reason we should keep doing that."
--Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon explained why it was refusing to give an entry visa to a lawyer from Human Rights Watch.


Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Assessment: Attorney General to reprimand Netanyahu and Yaalon in Operation Protective Edge report
  • The Military Prosecutor: “I revealed Elor Azariya’s lies”
  • Run with her – Among the thousands of people running in the Tel-Aviv marathon today is Keren Eyal, a mentally-challenged young woman who will soon be recruited to the IDF’s Oketz unit
  • Invalidating the elderly // Sima Kadmon
  • A state that is abusing // Meir Shalev
  • House of horrors // Igal Sarna
  • Police: Put Ari Harrow on trial
  • Coldplay on the way: Chris Martin is in Israel for private performance
Maariv This Weekend (Hebrew links only)
  • Likely: Former (Prime Minister’s) bureau chief to become state witness
  • Report: Attorney General suspects: ‘Israel Hayom’ newspaper – an illegal political contribution to Netanyahu
  • (Public Security Minister) Erdan: “If it turns out that [car ramming incident in Um al-Hiran] was not a terror attack – we need to apologize
  • Count to 10 // Ben Caspit
  • The Hurt Locker // Kalman Libeskind
  • Between the ruins – This is how the Iranians are winning in the battle for control of the Middle East // Jonathan Spyre in Mosul, Iraq
  • The desert foxes – the opposite look of Iran – What hides behind the moderate image of Saudi Arabia
  • The Egyptian paradox // Yossi Melman
  • Israel Air Force intercepted a Hamas drone
  • Bank of Israel acquired dollars in wake of dramatic weakening of currencies
  • What is preventing giving discounts to elderly who aren’t Holocaust survivors?
  • Who will put public pressure on the government in the name of the elderly? // Sarah Beck
  • The failed in battle in the Yom Kippur War that they didn’t want you to know about
  • His heart is in the East – the big change in Matan Vilnai’s life: China instead of politics
  • By Shlomit Kriegman: The secret book of the girl who was murdered in an attack
Israel Hayom
  • Erdan: “If it turns out there was no terror attack – we will apologize”
  • Police recommend – Indict Ari Harrow
  • Judge: Another year prison for (former chief rabbi) Metzger
  • This morning: tens of thousands to run in Tel-Aviv
  • Planted: Reza Kahlili tells how he spied for the Americans on the Revolutionary Guards in Iran
  • IDF presents: Official Experimental plan to put female combat soldiers in the Armored Corps


News Summary:
Friday’s Hebrew newspapers revealed the latest on the corruption investigations against and surrounding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said he was ready to issue an apology to the bereaved Bedouin family if it turned out that he wrongly called their relative a terrorist, that convicted soldier Elor Azariya will appeal his lenient sentence and that the Israeli Air Force intercepted a Hamas drone headed toward Israel’s coast.
 
Police recommended indicting Netanyahu’s former bureau chief, Ari Harow on multiple counts of corruption and Maariv reported that the police may offer Harow to be a state witness in corruption cases against Netanyahu. Haaretz+ reported that Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit blocked the police from taking testimonies from former US secretary of state John Kerry and from the Peruvian ambassador in Case 1000, in which the Netanyahu family received expensive gifts, and Channel 2 News reported that in Case 2000, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira suspects that the free daily Israel Hayom constitutes a forbidden political donation to Netanyahu. Shapira has asked for all the material collected. Meanwhile, Netanyahu had the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet ministers sign a non-disclosure promise about the details of the meeting between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.
 
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

News Nosh 2.23.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday February 23, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
"What happened to you? You don’t understand the need to defend the IDF? The IDF’s chain of command? That you can’t give legitimacy to every soldier who decides [things] for himself?”
--Likud Minister Yuval Steinitz slammed his fellow right-wing politicians for supporting giving a pardon to Elor Azariya, the soldier convicted of manslaughter in the execution of a prone Palestinian assailant.*


Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • The conservative revolution – four new justices chosen for High Court
  • A new courtroom // Tovah Zimuki
  • A message to judges // Shlomo Pyotrkovsky
  • They ran over the truth – “Terror attack,” “Terrorist,” “ISIS,” Minister Erdan and the Police Commissioner were quick to declare after the policeman Erez Levy was run over and killed in Um al-Hiran. But the police investigation reveals, it wasn’t a terror attack…
  • Haste is from the devil // Ben-Dror Yemini
  • The youth in Israel: Optimistic about their career, despairing over the likelihood they will be able to purchase a home 
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom

News Summary:
A revolution of conservatives in Israel’s High Court, evidence that the police acted wrongly in Um al-Hiran and that the Public Security Minister and the Police Commissioner wrongly labeled a Bedouin man and his car accident ‘terrorism,’ and the latest on the trial of Elor Azariya, the ‘Shooting Soldier from Hebron,’ made top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Also, in the footsteps of the President of Singapore, the Australian Prime Minister told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that only the two-state solution will bring peace. Separately, Yedioth reported that Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American who supports the BDS boycott of Israeli-made products, led a fundraising campaign that donated $56,000 to the Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, in which Jewish gravestones were toppled. “We pray that we will succeed in returning a sense of security and peace to the Jewish-American community, which is, without doubt, horrified by this incident.”
 
Three out of the four new justices appointed on Wednesday were conservatives, who are expected to shift the balance of power in the High Court to allow for more settler-supporting decisions and less intervention in problematic Knesset legislation. (See Commentary/Analysis below for more insight.)
 
An internal police investigation is set to show that the incident in the Bedouin village of Um al-Hiran, which security officials were quick to call terror, was otherwise. The Bedouin driver who was shot by Israeli police was not carrying out attack, and the conduct of the Border Police, who opened fire on him, was problematic. Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan’s family is calling for the resignation of Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and police chief Roni Al-Sheik – and so did the Haaretz Editorial today. “My brother was murdered,” said Abu al-Qiyan’s brother and called for a separate investigation. Haaretz+ prepared a list of other cases in which Bedouin were killed by police and it was either concealed, closed or is still being probed with dragging feet.
 
*An Israel Hayom poll found that 63% of Israelis support pardoning the soldier, Elor Azaria, who executed an incapacitated Palestinian assailant and was convicted of manslaughter. Netanyahu also said he supported a pardon, Maariv reported. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot slammed politicians' conduct during the affair, accusing them of lying about his conduct in the case, and told politicians not to pressure the army to give a pardon. Likud minister Yuval Steinitz also slammed Israeli politicians for demanding a pardon: “You don’t understand the need to defend the IDF? The IDF’s chain of command? That you can’t give legitimacy to every soldier who decides [things] for himself?' Prof. Asa Kasher, who wrote the IDF’s code of ethics said the "The chief of staff's statement was correct and appropriate.” (Maariv) President Reuven Rivlin visited Golani troops urging unity.

Quick Hits:
  • Israel Barring Palestinians From Entering for Medical Care Over Cellphones, Witnesses Say - Gaza women say they were turned back at border because they didn’t have their cellphones, which were taken by Hamas. (Haaretz)
  • Amnesty report: Israel unlawfully killed and tortured Palestinians - Annual report claims Israel infringed upon rights of thousands of Palestinians in 2016, among them children; Palestinians, on the other hand, are accused of killing 16 Israelis and a foreign citizen. (Ynet
  • Rehovot resident accused of attempting to set Palestinians on fire - Rehovot resident accused of planning to throw a Molotov cocktail at a Yavne warehouse inhabited by eight Palestinians, claiming he 'is sick of them.' (Ynet
  • Israel opts out of invoking land-grab law to save illegal settler homes - State opposes settlers' request to seal Ofra homes slated for demolition rather than razing them. (Haaretz+) 
  • IDF chief: Hezbollah suffering from crisis of morale - Eisenkot asserts Nasrallah's recent threats to fire rockets at sensitive facilities in Haifa and Dimona are merely meant to create deterrence and maintain the status quo with Israel while his organization was deep in crisis over its involvement in Syria. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
  • Report: Israel prevents 5 EU lawmakers from visiting Gaza - Israeli policy allows foreign diplomats, professional and humanitarian officials to enter Gaza as matter of routine, but five are not among them, Israeli official says • Cypriot MEP slams "systematic" entry bans, says Israeli explanation "unacceptable." (Israel Hayom)
  • Soldier very lightly hurt during overnight operations near Nablus - Explosive thrown at IDF force from the Paratroopers Brigade's 101st Battalion while it was securing the entrance to Joseph's Tomb in Balata as Jewish worshipers visited; soldier treated on the scene and then taken to the hospital. (Ynet
  • Israel wraps up tests to improve Iron Dome anti-missile system - For the first time, the system now has been making use of American-made components. (Haaretz+ and Ynet
  • Netanyahu's US visit found to be on expensive side - A document made public on Tuesday shows the costs of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent trip to the US; some of the pricier items on the list include $13,000 for phone calls and $3,500 for hair and makeup for Netanyahu and his wife Sara. (Yedioth/Ynet)
  • MK Hasson in hot water over fake PM resignation letter - Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman is after MK Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union) after the latter Tweeted a fake resignation letter from the PM; Braverman is attempting to convince the AG to pursue criminal complaint over PM's signature forgery. (Yedioth/Ynet
  • New head of Police Investigations Unit loses key responsibilities - In a break with convention, Lahav 433—the unit responsible for the most important investigations the police conduct—will likely pass to Commissioner Alsheikh instead of the new head of the Investigations and Intelligence Unit. (Ynet
  • On LGBT Rights Day, Knesset Learns That Only Tel Aviv Seriously Funds Gay Youth NGO - Israeli Gay Youth head tells lawmakers that in nearly three out of four cities where it operates, group gets nothing at all. (Haaretz+) 
  • ISIS affiliates gaining ground in Golan offensive - A major offensive by an ISIS-allied group in the tri-border region of Syria, Jordan and Israel has quickly captured four villages and is endangering the strategic city of Daraa, whose southwest suburb is already under the control of the group. (Yedioth/Ynet
  • Trump’s inspiration for 'last night in Sweden' filmed himself throwing stones at Palestinians - 'Palestinian Road Trip!' by Ami Horowitz, a documentarian who often appears on Fox News, talks about life in the West Bank and claims West Bank checkpoints does not disrupt Palestinian daily life. (Haaretz+)
  • Anti-Defamation League receives bomb threat - After a bomb threat is made to the Anti-Defamation League's headquarters in New York City, Law enforcement agencies open an investigation to determine if its validity and if its possible connection to threats against other Jewish institutions across the nation. (Ynet
  • Netanyahu: Trump's strong stand against anti-Semitism is very important - In first comments since Jewish centers in U.S. faced bomb threats and cemetery vandalized, prime minister says incidents are 'sad reminder' hatred still exists. (Haaretz)

 
Commentary/Analysis:
Israel's Police Chief, Public Security Minister Must Resign (Haaretz Editorial) In view of the incitement and lies these two spread immediately after the events in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, whose houses were all destroyed, they can no longer remain in office. 
Settler leaders should have been put on trial, not Azaria (Amnon Abramovich, Yedioth/Ynet) As a child, Elor Azaria was a victim of the education he received at home and of his political opinions. As a soldier, he was a victim of his service in Hebron. As a culprit, he was a victim of his advisors. 
With Supreme Court Picks, Netanyahu's Government Launches Anti-constitutional Revolution (Aluf Benn, Haaretz+) Israel's justice minister has created a court that will serve her political aim of perpetuating the occupation and annexing the West Bank without granting the Palestinians citizenship.
The new Supreme Court: more conservative, more right-wing (Tova Tzimuki, Yedioth/Ynet) After the four new judges selected on Wednesday are sworn in over the next six months, Israel will receive a court which is more restrained in its intervention in Knesset legislation and government decisions and more ‘sympathetic’ to the rightist-religious-settler agenda.
Israel's Public Security Minister Actively Fomenting anti-Arab Incitement (Or Kashti, Haaretz+) Conflict with Arabs is the lifeblood of the fourth Netanyahu government, the justification for its existence. That’s why ministers vie with each other to nurture it.
Keep religion out of politics (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) The Reform Jewish movement’s protest will not stop David Friedman’s appointment as US ambassador to Israel, but it definitely harms the movement’s own status among Israeli society. 
Isaac Herzog Details His 10-point Plan for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (Isaac Herzog, Haaretz+) Israeli opposition leader's plan: Sides will agree on decade of calm, during which time West Bank will be a violence and incitement-free zone; settlement construction outside blocs will be frozen, with more powers to Palestinians – only then negotiations. 
Please all, please none (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Logically, the claims of mitigating circumstances that were rejected outright in Pvt. Elor Azaria's conviction for manslaughter would never have returned as grounds for an easy sentence for a serious crime. 
A Glass Ceiling for Druze Women? (Eman Hasisi Amasha, Haaretz+) How about the ceiling put in place by the Haaretz writer who insists that anyone who doesn’t live according to her worldview is challenged.
Israel in Trump’s eyes: An asset or a burden? (Udi Dekel, Yedioth/Ynet) The annexation and construction policy, alongside an implementation of the red lines on Iran, may lead to an escalation on the northern and Palestinian fronts, which is set to clash with the US president’s cost-benefit calculations and with Israel’s strategic value.
In the name of political correctness (Dr. Eyal Levin, Israel Hayom) In a world where the basic values on which we were raised are blasted as outdated, any show of support for the soldier who shot a neutralized terrorist is a foreign language.
Who Needs The Hague When You Have Israeli Army Justice? (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) There's nothing more Israeli than this court that gives a soldier, who killed a Palestinian in cold blood, a sentence fit for a bicycle thief.
Trump helped Netanyahu pave road for one-state (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) The meeting with Trump loosened Netanyahu from the shackles of the two-state proposal. Netanyahu doesn’t have to freeze settlement building, or face threats and reprimands from Washington. Most importantly, he no longer has to fake interest in a peace process based on two states. 
'The will of the people' (MK Benny Begin, Israel Hayom) Despite claims to the contrary, not every law passed by the Knesset represents the public's wishes. The High Court must be protected so it can in turn protect the rights of everyone.
Hyperbole Over anti-Semitism Weakens Liberal Opposition to Trump (Jonathan S. Tobin, Haaretz+) Be appalled by Trump’s stalling over denouncing anti-Semitism. But the president didn’t invent Jew hatred in America, and trying to pin the 'anti-Semite' label on him won’t work. 
Win wars, not trials (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) Any citizen would tell you that the role of the military is first and foremost to win and only after that to preach morals and ethics.
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

News Nosh 2.22.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday February 22, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
"Take the sentence and run, Elor Azariya. All those who tell you that you are a hero, that you did what was needed to do – are doing a great injustice to you, to the IDF, to the state. As an outstanding combat soldier, as a combat medic, you were supposed to know that. The court had to convict you, Elor Azariya. Not because you are ‘everyone’s son.’ If it did not convict you – there would be no future here not for you and not for the rest of everyone’s sons.”
--Senior Yedioth political commentator, Sima Kadmon, writes to Elor Azariya, the soldier who received a light sentence after being convicted of killing an incapacitated Palestinian assailant.*
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News Nosh 2.21.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday February 21, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
“It started in his family, which was swept up in the incitement around it and which raised a boy who shot an injured helpless person – practically corpse abuse – and it continued with the education system that doesn’t deal with the problem of semi-fascist content in the guise of patriotism, and then the political establishment, which incited a soldier who is unable to cope with the ongoing brainwashing, and it continued to publicly support the criminal act, and then the IDF, which ignored the wounded [Palestinian] man, who was injured and left in the street and killed like a dog.”
--Maariv commentator Ran Adelist writes that Elor Azariya, the young Israeli man serving in the IDF who shot in the head Abdul Fattah al-Sharif, an already wounded incapacitated Palestinian young man, was not the only one guilty for the execution for which Azariya is being sentenced today.*
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News Nosh 2.20.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday February 20, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
“Netanyahu always signals left and when he comes to the intersection, if it has a right turn he turns right.”
--Hatnua party leader, MK Tzipi Livni, commented on the report that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu backed out of a regional peace arrangement.
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News Nosh 2.19.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday February 19, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
“The president of the United States is talking like a tin-pot dictator, like an enemy of democracy, and the only people celebrating are Islamic fanatics, white supremacists, complete anti-Semites and one Benjamin Netanyahu.”
--In front page Op-Ed, Haaretz’s Washington Bureau Chief, Chemi Shalev, reviews Trump’s first month - and makes a comparison to Nazi Germany.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
Only in two out of 17 cases, in which Israeli civilians attacked Palestinian terrorists who had been already neutralized or innocent people who were suspected of terrorists, were indictments filed, according to a document submitted to court.**
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News Nosh 2.17.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday February 17, 2017
 
Number of the day:
55% 
--The percentage of Israelis who prefer two states over one state.
 
Quote of the day:
“You can’t take everything one has held over the course of an entire lifetime and expunge that in three hours."
--J Street head Jeremy Ben-Ami said the apology by appointed US ambassador to Israel David Friedman for calling J Street supporters 'worse than kapos' did not count for much.**
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News Nosh 2.16.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday February 16, 2017
 
Quote of the day:
"They [Jewish Americans] hear the words of flattery from the Jewish state’s prime minister, and they start choking."
-Yedioth's top political commentator, Nahum Barnea explained why it made his 'blood boil' when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “There is no greater supporter to the Jewish people or the Jewish state than Donald Trump."**
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News Nosh 2.15.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday February 15, 2017
 
You Must Be Kidding: 
"How is it that the laws of the Left are constitutional and mine are not?"
--Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) blasts the High Court for repealing laws the Knesset passed.*
 
Quote of the day:
"Those who legislate anti-democratic laws should not be surprised if the High Court invalidates them."
--MK Revital Swid (Zionist Union) explains.*
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News Nosh 2.14.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday February 14, 2017
 
Quote of the Day:
“It must be clear: If we extend sovereignty, the law must apply equally to all. Applying sovereignty to an area gives citizenship to all those living there...There are no separate laws for Israelis and for non-Israelis."
--Israeli President Reuven Rivlin declares his support for a one-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians all equal citizens.*
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